John Rhys-Davies to appear on LOTS (2.17, "Vengeance")

[Michael]

When I interviewed Craig Horner for a Xenite.Org feature article last week, he mentioned that John Rhys-Davies (Gimli from "The Lord of the Rings", Sallah from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", Professor Maximilian Arturo on Sliders, and many more) had recently completed guest-starring on an upcoming episode.

I'm afraid I don't have any more information than that.

I hope to publish the interview on Xenite this week. We'll of course announce it here.

[gemini0521]

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John Rhys-Davies appeared in the episode that aired this past weekend(I don't know the title and this review is labeled SPOILERS in case anyone missed it). He plays the disguised version of Richard's real father,a scholar who has found a code that will open the place where a scroll containing instructions on how to use the Stone of Tears is hidden. The subplot has Zedd reuniting with his brother,who has been told by Darken Rahl that his father killed their father. The brothers decide on revenge,and find him with Richard,Kahlan & Cara. There are flashbacks to when Zedd & Thaddius were young. Darken Rahl then enlists the Sisters to get the scroll. They do,but in the battle,the scholar sacrifices himself to save Zedd. The scholar tells Richard that he will find the scroll again. Then he assumes his real appearance,which is that of a bald man,and dies. After bidding his brother farewell,Zedd tells Richard that he used his magic to make it possible for Darken Rahl to be born. Richard reminds him that he was born because of that magic also. Good episode,but rather strange.

[aerips]

The episode is Vengeance.

[august]

So I actually saw this last weekend. Classic performance from my local Fox station - Seeker was bumped as usual from its 7 PM Saturday slot in lieu of Nascar... and then out of the blue, it turned up at 6 PM Sunday for no discernible reason at all, completely un-advertised.

So even though this is surely one of the main reasons for the show's under-performance in the ratings (like jack and Cleo before it) nevertheless, I gotta say that while I enjoyed this one, it had everything that annoys me about the show: everyone is related to everyone, everyone who has died is really alive, but will die again, but will come back to life again.... and if there is any problem with the preceding, then all they need to do is find the Stone of This which will be revealed by the Scroll of That, once they are led there by the Compass of The Other, at which point they can avoid the Vale of Tears that leads to the Temple of Doom, presided over by the Ultimate Evil, (insert villain of the appropriate season) who we will discover is not nearly as bad as (insert villain of the next season.) Plus any character can be played by any other/new actor. And any group of people are desitned to be wiped out to the very last survivor... at which point they will all be alive again a few weeks later. Thanks to the Spell of Awakening, contained in the Chamber of the Ages, the map to which just happens to be tattoed on the back of a series regular...who has secretly been the brother of the other regular all along...but is now played by a different actor, thanks to a death-and-resurrection spell. SHEESH!

[Boomstick]

Originally Posted by august

I gotta say that while I enjoyed this one, it had everything that annoys me about the show...

The scheduling thing is a big problem. I've fallen way behind on my viewing of the show, but there's been a couple times where I've dedicated the time to watching it, only to find something else on or a rerun from earlier in the season.

I agree that they haven't done themselves any favors with their use of characters and story telling, either.

[gemini0521]

I'm with August-I enjoyed this episode,but was annoyed as she was by certain things. What annoys me the most is Darken Rahl's recurring appearances. I thought once Richard defeated him and he went to the other side,so to speak,that was the end of him. However,we see him more now than we did in the first season-totally ridiculous!!

[Michael]

Tweet from Bridget Regan about working with JRD:

@rahlsies John was so lovely to work with - although I did have to restrain my desire to quote Indiana Jones to him all day.
3:51 AM Apr 18th via web in reply to rahlsies

[Zagor]

OK episode - plenty of Darken Rahl goodness and had some nice ideas. I'm not sure of the timefarme though. I would have thought Zedd must have had his daughter before Darken Rahl was born, but there was no evidence of this. Maybe Ricky was the result of a teen pregnancy.

There also seemed to be a bit of an inconsistency - when Thadicus relates how he saw his father killed, he says the father and Panis (in the guise of Zedd) were having a heated argument. But then when you see it again from Panis' point of view the two were having a fairly measured discussion before Panis stabbed him. I suppose the two stories could be exaggerated in different ways.

I was also a bit disappointed Panis didn't seem to be that bad. I liked the idea of him as a villain (if not quite up to Darken standards).

The ending had a nice twist - Darken Rahl went through all that just so he could give his dad a hug? Interested to see what develops from there.

And I don't know how there's still any of those Sisters of the Dark left - at least a dozen seem to die in every episode - surely there weren't that many to begin with?

[Michael]

Maybe they were playing up the "different memories, different perspectives" angle (which I suppose was iconically established by the 1930 William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying). Many television shows have the concept for comedic effect but this was a more subtle variation.

[Zagor]

Originally Posted by Zagor

The ending had a nice twist - Darken Rahl went through all that just so he could give his dad a hug? Interested to see what develops from there.

Apparently, absolutely nothing

[Michael]

Zagor, you have put your finger on the button. :LOL:

I thought it was just part of some basic character development for Darken Rahl, who made some interesting revelations about himself in subsequent episodes.